mavlink_sensor_bridge

ROS 2 package that reads MAVLink data from a Cube Orange flight controller over UART and publishes standard ROS 2 sensor topics.

This package is intended for rover or robotics platforms where the GPS and IMU are connected to the Cube Orange, and the companion computer needs to receive these sensors through MAVLink.

Features

• Read MAVLink from UART
• Receive IMU data from Cube Orange
• Receive GPS data from Cube Orange
• Publish standard ROS 2 messages
• Configurable serial port and baudrate
• Simple launch file and YAML configuration

Published topics

Topic	Type	Description
/imu/data	sensor_msgs/msg/Imu	IMU orientation, angular velocity and linear acceleration
/gps/fix	sensor_msgs/msg/NavSatFix	GPS latitude, longitude, altitude and fix status
/gps/status	diagnostic_msgs/msg/DiagnosticStatus	GPS diagnostic information

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
port	/dev/ttyS0	UART port connected to the Cube Orange
baudrate	115200	MAVLink serial baudrate
imu_frame_id	imu_link	Frame ID used for IMU messages
gps_frame_id	gps_link	Frame ID used for GPS messages
publish_rate_hz	100.0	Node loop frequency
heartbeat_rate_hz	1.0	MAVLink companion heartbeat frequency
debug	false	Print received MAVLink message types

Installation

Clone the package into a ROS 2 workspace:

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone git@github.com:SamuelSRI/mavlink_sensor_bridge.git

Install Python dependency:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip
python3 -m pip install pymavlink --break-system-packages

Build the package:

cd ~/ros2_ws
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --packages-select mavlink_sensor_bridge
source install/setup.bash

Usage

Launch the node:

ros2 launch mavlink_sensor_bridge mavlink_sensor_bridge.launch.py

Check published topics:

ros2 topic list

Expected topics:

/imu/data
/gps/fix
/gps/status

Echo IMU data:

ros2 topic echo /imu/data

Echo GPS data:

ros2 topic echo /gps/fix

Check topic frequency:

ros2 topic hz /imu/data
ros2 topic hz /gps/fix

Configuration

Edit the configuration file:

nano config/mavlink_sensor_bridge.yaml

Example configuration:

mavlink_sensor_bridge_node:
  ros__parameters:
    port: "/dev/ttyS0"
    baudrate: 115200

    imu_frame_id: "imu_link"
    gps_frame_id: "gps_link"

    publish_rate_hz: 100.0
    heartbeat_rate_hz: 1.0

    debug: false

Common UART ports:

/dev/ttyS0
/dev/ttyAMA0
/dev/serial0
/dev/ttyUSB0
/dev/ttyACM0

Serial permissions

Add the user to the required serial groups:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
sudo usermod -a -G tty $USER
sudo reboot

After reboot:

cd ~/ros2_ws
source install/setup.bash

Cube Orange / ArduPilot configuration

The Cube Orange serial port connected to the companion computer must be configured to output MAVLink.

Example for SERIAL2:

SERIAL2_PROTOCOL = 2
SERIAL2_BAUD     = 115

Recommended stream rates:

SR2_RAW_SENS = 10
SR2_POSITION = 5
SR2_EXTRA1   = 10

If another serial port is used, replace SERIAL2 and SR2 with the correct port number.

Example for SERIAL1:

SERIAL1_PROTOCOL = 2
SERIAL1_BAUD     = 115

SR1_RAW_SENS = 10
SR1_POSITION = 5
SR1_EXTRA1   = 10

ROS 2 integration

This package only publishes sensor data. Sensor transforms should be handled separately with robot_state_publisher, URDF, or static TF publishers.

Typical rover localization stack:

Cube Orange
    ↓ MAVLink UART
mavlink_sensor_bridge
    ↓
/imu/data
/gps/fix
    ↓
robot_localization
    ↓
/odometry/filtered

Example robot_localization inputs:

imu0: /imu/data
gps0: /gps/fix

Notes

• The IMU frame is defined by the imu_frame_id parameter.
• The GPS frame is defined by the gps_frame_id parameter.
• The physical transforms between base_link, imu_link, and gps_link should not be published by this node.
• The Cube Orange must already receive valid IMU and GPS data.
• GPS fix quality depends on the GPS module and ArduPilot configuration.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.